[6] See a valuable discussion of our subject in a pamphlet entitled "Acts of the Republican Party," by Cazenove G. Lee, who wrote under the nom de plume of "C. Gardner," Winchester, Va., 1906, pp. 59-69.
[7] I acted as adjutant of the Third Brigade A. N. Va., in the Gettysburg campaign. Even then, in the third year of the war, and in that best equipped army, the returns showed only 1480 muskets to 1941 men in the brigade. One-fourth of the command was without arms.
[8] "The Government, at the opening of 1864, estimated that the Conscription would place four hundred thousand men in the field." Lee did not share this belief. By the end of the year it was, in his opinion, "diminishing, rather than increasing, the strength of his army."—Letter of Dec. 31, 1864. See "R. E. Lee, Man and Soldier," p. 591, by Thos. Nelson Page.
[9] Thus, to quote that able and expert authority Gen. Marcus J. Wright: Battles around Richmond (1862), Lee, 80,835; McClellan, 115,249. At Antietam, Confederates, 35,255; Federals, 87,164. At Fredericksburg, Confederates, 78,110; Federals, 110,000. At Chancellorsville, Confederates, 57,212; Federals, 131,661. At Gettysburg, Confederates, 64,000; Federals, 95,000. At the Wilderness, Confederates, 63,981; Federals, 141,160.
[10] A consideration of the portentous difference between the number of men borne on the regimental rolls and the number actually available on the battlefield, suggests that it may be in large degree accounted for by the number of men detailed for service in the industrial army.
Thus in the army of Northern Virginia just before Fredericksburg, Nov. 20, 1862:
| Aggregate present and absent | 153,773 |
| Aggregate present for duty | 86,569 |
Soon after Gettysburg:
| 1863: | Present and absent | 109,915 |
| Present for duty | 50,184 |
Before Wilderness campaign: